HBS and Paradox will part ways at the end of the year.

[Spartakus]

Peace of Blake be with you.

Harebrained Schemes and Paradox Interactive to part ways as the Seattle-based developer seeks new opportunities - Paradox Interactive

Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

www.paradoxinteractive.com

Paradox Interactive (Paradox) and Harebrained Schemes (HBS) – developers of the Shadowrun trilogy, BATTLETECH and The Lamplighters League – have decided to part ways on 1 January 2024. The separation is the result of a mutual agreement, stemming from each party’s strategic and creative priorities. Paradox will retain ownership of The Lamplighters League and other games developed by the studio. HBS will seek new publishing, partnership, and investment opportunities.
“Paradox has refocused its strategy towards its core niches within strategy and management games with endless qualities,” said Charlotta Nilsson, COO of Paradox. “We and HBS’ leadership have been discussing what would happen after the release of The Lamplighters League, but a new project or sequel in the same genre was not in line with our portfolio plans. Hence, we believe that a separation would be the best way forward. We’re very happy that this talented, gifted studio has the chance to continue and can’t wait to see what they will make next.”
“Harebrained Schemes will support The Lamplighters League through the end of the year while we seek funding and partnerships for an independent future in 2024," said Brian Poel, Studio Operations Manager of HBS. “Our studio mission remains the same: to make games that challenge your mind and touch your heart.”

So, HBS will be an independent studio again. For now, it's not at all clear, what this means for future game development - especially for possible Shadowrun and Battletech titles.
Both seem to be HBS's core stength but Paradox keeps ownership of the existing games. It's not exactly clear if this means ownership of the existing code base or only the rights to sell those titles. So theoretically HBS might be able to build on existing code (or buy the code from Paradox at a later time) as long as they can get a new deal with Microsoft as well.

Now I don't know how likely this is - Paradox also fired apparently about 80% of HBS's staff in July, so it's unclear if the people who know the old code are even still working for HBS. On top of that, those games used Unity as a game engine and after the recent changes in Unity's licensing one might want to switch to a different engine alltogether.

To me it seems more likely that HBS will start a new project from scratch, but building another Shadowrun on top of the old engine might be more managable with a small team.



So I'm eagerly waiting to see what you guys will do next - hoping for new Battletech/Shadowrun adventures.


But more importantly - I wish every former and current HBS member good fortune in in the future and that you'll find a good new job quickly should you be in need of one.

 

[Jacobkosh]

Since Mitch and Jordan worked at MS for many years, I sure hope they have some old friends they can call to get a publishing arrangement going and start staffing up again. Otherwise, I don't know what's going to happen or how HBS can function with 20% of its staff.

Whatever happens, I am at least glad that Paradox is letting HBS out of its claws instead of just murdering the studio entirely. Between the fiasco with not promoting Lamplighters League at all then firing 80% of the studio, the handling of the Vampire license over the past five or six years, the total collapse of Bloodlines 2, etc, it sure seems like there's a story waiting to be written about dysfunction and mismanagement in the Paradox c-suite. The idea that these people turned down Battletech 2 because it wasn't Paradox's own IP - you know, like those other famous Paradox IPs, "Medieval Europe," "World War II" and "the concept of cities" - just seems like a hilarious own goal and I'd like nothing more than for HBS to come roaring out of the gate in three or four years with the next Battletech.

But I guess we'll see.

 

[Colonel Flamestalker]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1714685092705280285

 

[Spartakus]

Drat

 

[Eelectrica]

So HBS have nothing then. What a shame

 

[Prussian Havoc]

HBS has Mitch… and that’s more than any other studio out there. :bow:

What Mitch is likely to do is a good question. I think there’ll be a message from HBS sometime after the New Year… likely by the end of January. There is no use throwing good money after bad… if HBS is not viable, if there is nothing to bring in cash for payroll, rent, etc, then it might be curtains for the last of Team HBS.

But I think there is a long shot here.

it might take Mitch to roll a few natural-20’s, but with the Lord Commander’s own luck, there just might be another round in the chamber for our favorite studio. It might be Battletech or Shadowrun related. It might be a mobile game like Crimson Pirates. It might be kickstarted, it might be that the studio sheds one owner to find another…

But whatever it is, I’ll be willing to kickstart/preorder/support it to the best of my ability.

it is rare to find good people leading good people to craft good games. Team HBS has been just that for as long as I’ve known of them.

Let’s follow along with Mitch and Team HBS, and see where they take us. : )

 

[Prussian Havoc]

One thing… I’d like to see this site, open back up on 02JAN: https://community.battletechgame.com/forums

: )

 

[Thorqemada]

Hope they manage to do well at HBS and elsewhere!

 

[stjobe]

One thing… I’d like to see this site, open back up on 02JAN: https://community.battletechgame.com/forums

: )

Much as I'd love to see that, I can't see it happening. With 4/5 employees gone (hopefully to new lucrative and fun jobs) and their four biggest games (including BT) stripped off them by the very same entity laying off all those people, I can't see anyone at HBS wanting to take on running the old BT forum.

I might be an old pessimistic MechWarrior, but imagine having everything you've been (professionally) proud of for the last ten years just... Taken. And 4 out of every 5 of your team laid off, scattered to the wind.

And all because the new boss thinks losing 30 million just to give the old boss a black eye is a good trade.

 

[Thorqemada]

BT and Shadowrun become not a Paradox IP as they belong to MS and were licensed from them.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

BT and Shadowrun become not a Paradox IP as they belong to MS and were licensed from them.

But all future sales of BATTLETECH and the Shadowrun trilogy see the proceeds go to Paradox… not HBS.

As @stjobe points out, come 01JAN Team HBS will be out from under Paradox, but with vanishingly few revenue streams…

A Kickstarter?

Merch?

Angel Investor?

A new owner?

Something will have to break in Mitch’s direction or HBS may start 01JAN free of Paradox, but end 01JAN shuttering its door for good… : (

 

[Spartakus]

Much as I'd love to see that, I can't see it happening. With 4/5 employees gone (hopefully to new lucrative and fun jobs) and their four biggest games (including BT) stripped off them by the very same entity laying off all those people, I can't see anyone at HBS wanting to take on running the old BT forum.

I might be an old pessimistic MechWarrior, but imagine having everything you've been (professionally) proud of for the last ten years just... Taken. And 4 out of every 5 of your team laid off, scattered to the wind.

And all because the new boss thinks losing 30 million just to give the old boss a black eye is a good trade.

Well, that depends on how much of HBS' previous success Mitch attributes to having a proper forum. I think when you're tapping into an existing fandom you almost certainly need a proper forum to engage with your target audience. Otherwise a Discord server might be a cheep if inadequate alternative.
Though I doubt HBS has enough personally left to tackle another Battletech title for a while.

We'll probably see next year what they're up to.

 

[Benthic7]

Based on what Gitelman said, PDX owns the Battletech game that HBS developed along with Shadowrun. PDX does not, I believe, own the Battletech IP. Another game developer could create a strategic/tactical turn-based Battletech game as long as they secured a licensing agreement from the owner of the IP, which I think is Microsoft.

HBS took a risk developing a new game without an existing fan base or developed fictional universe (like BT and Shadowrun) and came up short. Additional content for Battletech in the form of DLC would probably have been the safer and more successful option.

 

[starscream]

so paradox threw hbs under the bus then reversed it over a few times i was worried something like this would happen when hbs joined with paradox

Hopefully HBS might do another kick starter mech commander 3 or bt 2 yes pls

 

[Eximar]

Unfortunately, you can probably put a fork in HBS. All that would be very difficult to recover from and be able to develop games again.

We will probably go through another long drought before anyone is willing to pay Microsoft to make any kind of BT game.

 

[Benthic7]

PGI keeps chugging along with Mechwarrior 5 as well as MWO. MW5 Clans is coming out next month I believe and I'll probably pick that up. Even though you play as a filthy Smoke Jaguar. And Catalyst is doing well with the tabletop version. It's pretty popular at my local gaming store.

And Mitch and Jordan pocketed millions when they sold out to PDX so I don't feel sorry for them.

 

[Spartakus]

Unfortunately, you can probably put a fork in HBS. All that would be very difficult to recover from and be able to develop games again.

We will probably go through another long drought before anyone is willing to pay Microsoft to make any kind of BT game.

I don't think so. PDX could have announced closing HBS. They didn't. So Mitch seems to have some idea what to do with it.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

I don't think so. PDX could have announced closing HBS. They didn't. So Mitch seems to have some idea what to do with it.

That is the hope… that is the prayer…

To “in Success, all things are possible,“ I would like to add, “in Perseverance, Luck and the Support of a grateful gaming community, Success is possible.”

:bow:

 

[Eximar]

We would all love to see more development on BT or a BT2 or whatever, but it's just not realistic from what we've seen.

Mitch may know what he wants to do with HBS, but they have next to no employees and no revenue source to do it with.

 

[KrashLog]

Well, that was a bit of depressing news. Don't have anything else to say than to mourn for one of my favorite IPs.